To protect the player's bases and their progress on the server from other players, we highly recommend to always set a password, whether you are hosting a peer-to-peer server or using a dedicated server. This will give you control over who is joining your server. Likewise, be mindful of who you are inviting to your server.
In case you plan to open up the server for any reason, it is always possible to back up the save data locally, just in case.
During Early Access, we plan as a top priority to implement server-wide rights that can be set by the server admin for each player, such as guests with only viewing rights, members who can build and use the base, and moderators who can set the rights for other players.
This is only the beginning. Thank you for supporting Enshrouded!